1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a driving support apparatus for a vehicle that performs a lane keeping assist for the vehicle, and a driving support method.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, as a technical literature relevant to a driving support apparatus that performs a lane keeping assist for a vehicle, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-162014 is known. The publication shows a lane following apparatus that controls the steering of a vehicle such that the vehicle follows a target line set in a running lane. In the lane following apparatus, at the ordinary time, the greater the deviation amount in the vehicle width direction between the target line and the running line of the vehicle is, the greater the gain of the steering torque in a direction of returning the vehicle to the target line is.
By the way, during the execution of the lane keeping assist, in the case of making a lane change from the running lane to an adjacent lane, a driver needs to make the vehicle go toward the adjacent lane while resisting the steering torque in the direction of returning the vehicle to the target line of the running lane. If the lane keeping assist, for avoiding this, is canceled in response to the operation of a direction indicator lever, it is likely to give the driver uneasy feeling, because the lane keeping assist is canceled, for example, even when the direction indicator lever is operated by a wrong operation or the like.
Hence, during the execution of the lane keeping assist, when it is determined that the vehicle makes a lane change, the above-described related lane following apparatus suppresses the increase in the gain of the steering torque even when the deviation amount between the running line of the vehicle and the target line becomes great, and thereby, inhibits the vehicle from being easily returned to the target line of the running lane. However, in the related lane following apparatus, for example, even when the driver weakens the steering torque and temporarily waits for seeing the appearance of the adjacent lane in the middle of the lane change, the driver needs to resist the steering torque given by the lane keeping assist for returning the vehicle to the target line, and sometimes feels uncomfortable.